dan-o, i see you list tukwila as home. so your closer to the cowlitz than the north sound rivers. plus its almost all freeway driving to the cowlitz/lewis or maybe satsop, etc. if it were me i would learn the cowlitz. it stays open year round and has good returns of fish. and then maybe learn the Kalama or other south end rivers.
just my 2 cents.

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Thanks for the heads up Skyrise! I'm just wanting to learn, but wherever that takes me is fine by me.

if you want the best chance, then you want the rivers with the most fish.
winter: its forks or the cowlitz.
summer: its cowlitz for close by. then like salmo_g said its off to Canada or the clearwater/grande ronde or maybe the methow.
if you just want scenery then the sky is pretty. but the best days are long gone. you should have been here in the 70's. when they used to land more steelhead just below lewis street in one month then they see all winter now days. and many of those were caught by plunkers.
again just my 2 cents.
but i do miss those days. landed my 1st steelhead down from lewis street.
maybe the Skagit will come back. who knows ?

if you want the best chance, then you want the rivers with the most fish.
winter: its forks or the cowlitz.
summer: its cowlitz for close by. then like salmo_g said its off to Canada or the clearwater/grande ronde or maybe the methow.
if you just want scenery then the sky is pretty. but the best days are long gone. you should have been here in the 70's. when they used to land more steelhead just below lewis street in one month then they see all winter now days. and many of those were caught by plunkers.
again just my 2 cents.
but i do miss those days. landed my 1st steelhead down from lewis street.
maybe the Skagit will come back. who knows ?

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That seems to be the way of the fish these days. When I was fishing in Oregon I would come across people that would reminisce over the "old days". It's sad, but it's reality.

Right. I should keep it to myself. just re-run the tapes in my head.
anyway good luck up here. sounds like you know Oregon streams. many of those rivers are pretty good i hear.

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I wouldn't necessarily say they're good. I don't have any resources to compare it too, so that doesn't help any. I think it's one of those "grass is greener on the other side" scenarios. People were always talking about how the fishing was better in Washington when I was in Oregon, and now that I'm in Washington I hear people talking about the fishing being better in Oregon. I will say though, the D is an amazing river that I could fish for the rest of my life never touching another river and I would still have more amazing runs and pockets to fish than my life could contain. I can't wait to learn more of the rivers around here, it's just going to take some time.

Personally, I fish a different river every month. There's rivers or stretches of rivers I fish for December/ January hatchery steelhead, February/March wild fish, June/July summer runs, late summer runs, and fall summer run fishing. For each of these, I'd probably fish a different river. There are viable options for all of these within 1.5 hours from you and great 2 day trips within 4 hours of you. Don't think for a second that the Skykomish is your only option. There are a lot of fly-fishermen that will ignore other heavily planted rivers that lack classic runs in favor of the Skykomish. These are pretty important resources:

Personally, I fish a different river every month. There's rivers or stretches of rivers I fish for December/ January hatchery steelhead, February/March wild fish, June/July summer runs, late summer runs, and fall summer run fishing. For each of these, I'd probably fish a different river. There are viable options for all of these within 1.5 hours from you and great 2 day trips within 4 hours of you. Don't think for a second that the Skykomish is your only option. There are a lot of fly-fishermen that will ignore other heavily planted rivers that lack classic runs in favor of the Skykomish. These are pretty important resources:

Nice video of the Sky. I floated that section for the first time on Sunday. River was running about 2700, which seemed to be a fair bit lower than in this clip. Glad I did my homework in advance on the first couple of riffles -- no issues getting through them. My son landed a couple of pinks but no chrome. I figured most of the pinks would be belly up by this point but there were a surprising number still swimming.

Both pretty damn sketchy. Don't float anything above cashmere if you're not superman on the oars. And don't do the lower river if the idea of rowing a half mile against the current on the Columbia appeals to you.

The Wenatchee is known for having some of the slickest rocks anywhere.

can confirm what evan and freestone said, grew up in Cashmere and have floated the Wenatchee from Leavenworth to Dryden and Dryden to Sleepy Hollow bridge. Drive and wade would be best bet but be careful, it doesn't appear to be a "scary" river but it kills its fair share of 206'ers every summer